


Final Moments

by DevinTowerwood



Category: Dragon Age, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Dalish Warden - Freeform, F/F, Leliana POV, Right before the battle with the archdemon, first person POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-12
Updated: 2016-08-12
Packaged: 2018-08-08 06:30:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7746733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DevinTowerwood/pseuds/DevinTowerwood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leliana and Taleya share their final moments before going to face the arch demon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Final Moments

We both hesitated at the base of the steps, although the others were already making their way up to the landing, adjusting their armor and taking a final inventory. All day it had been clear that something more, something greater than the swarms of dark spawn weighed on her mind. It was like she was barely here to see it, though their blood matted her black hair and stained her cheeks. There was still something more being left unsaid.

I reached out, touching her forearm just enough to get her to look up at me. “Tal, please. What is it?”  
When we first met, she never wore this expression - face pinched, eyes dark and downcast. The further we had gone in our journey, the more times I had woken up to find her and Alistair already awake, talking low and unheard with that expression carved into her face.

She inhaled, talking so softly at first that I could have forgotten where we were, “I . . . I would never ask you to stay behind. No matter how dangerous it is, I know we’re in this together.”

I reached out, taking her hands with mine. “Always, _emma lath_.”

Her face finally softened, but her eyes left mine again. I could tell that she was faltering. Did she believe, after making it this far, that we might fail? The doubt had long ago left my heart. Alistair would slay the arch-demon, Ferelden would be saved. We had never lost a battle, and we never would.

“I’ve decided. I will kill the archdemon and end the blight. Alistair will stay, and he will lead the Wardens.”

And like that, my blood ran cold. She couldn’t. She couldn’t mean this. It had been settled long ago, before even the Landsmeet. Alistair had no designs on the throne. Alistair wanted to die, and to honor Duncan. This was decided. It was over.

“Leliana, please listen to me. I will not let Alistair’s blood leave Ferelden. He won’t accept that, but I must. This is what is best for Thedas.”

I had always trusted Taleya to be smarter than that. Royal blood meant nothing. The elves knew that, and she believed it from the start. That’s why Alistair had trusted us with his secret.  
She knew what mattered. She would not toss this away.

“Best for Thedas? Alistair?” I dropped her hands, almost throwing them back to her sides. “He’s a good man, Taleya, but _you_ are Ferelden’s hero. _You_ have rallied Ferelden to the shortest blight Thedas has ever known. You are too important, even for a Blight.”

She smiled now, even though it showed more sadness than appreciation. “I’m a warrior. My time draws to a close. I won’t be important as soon as that _thing_ is dead on the battlements.”

“You’ll be important to me!” I didn’t want to yell at her, but I couldn’t believe she was trying to spew this. She had, in under a year, become a greater hero than  I knew from any stories - I knew, given the chance, she would become a walking myth, if not among mankind, among her own people. I would rather let every line of kings die than her. “To Ferelden! You can’t-”

I reached up to shove her back, but she grabbed my hands. I didn’t expect her to shout, but it was only for a second: “Leliana! _Ma vhenan_ , please. This is what I must do, for all of us. I am asking you, please, _ma ghilana mir din'an_. Guide me to into a death that means something.”

And she was asking. She was sincerely asking.  
This is what she wanted.

And I stopped trying to push her back, letting my arms fall limp in her grasp. There was nothing that I could say about Ferelden, or duty. She believed that this was right.  
She was never selfish, but for now, I hoped she would be, “Taleya. Please. Stay alive with me. Live a life that means something, don’t die.”

She kept my gaze for a long moment, but then she shook her head. “I’m sorry,” was all she said.

My voice curdled into into spite, trying to work around her without permission, “Alistair will never let you do this.”

She didn’t blink as she looked at me for a long moment, as if she was contemplating something. “I know,” she admitted. She swallowed, taking a long breath before finally saying, “If he tries to stop me, I want you to shoot him. Just hurt him enough that he can’t finish it. _Ma halani_ , Leliana.”

And it was over.

Because I loved her more than anyone.  
Because I respected her more than anyone.  
Because she was my leader, and my lover, and our savior.

“I will. Alistair’s got a good eye against magic, but not arrows.”

And she almost laughed at that. She finally let me go before stepping forward, wrapping me up as tightly as she could. We stunk of blood and the filth of war, but I held her against me all the same.

“When I fall, I want you to take my body back. I want to receive my rites, please. Do this for me.”

I wouldn’t let myself cry. Not while she was still alive, not while we still had to fight. “I will, Taleya. I will see you to Falon’Din, I swear it.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, close to my ear.


End file.
